Marvel Studios Will Release Official MCU Timeline To Address Issues

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s continuity was put in question this summer with Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s unclear placement in the timeline, but Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige says an official timeline is on the way. In Marvel and Sony’s first joint-venture bringing the third version of Spider-Man to the big screen, many wondered what potential problems could arise as two studios try to work together for the greater good of the character. What was not highly considered thanks to Marvel’s involvement was Homecoming messing up the MCU timeline, but it sure seemed like it did.

The problem did not come with just a single scene, but the overall timeline of the story. Thanks to an eight-year time jump between the events of The Avengers and Spider-Man: Homecoming’s as revealed in first act, fans immediately were taken back by the movie’s primary story presumably taking place in 2020 – and not 2017 or 2018 or earlier where it seemed Captain America: Civil War (which directly precedes Homecoming) actually occurred.

We, and many other curious fans, have attempted to connect the dots to understand the current MCU timeline – including in our breakdown of how things may shake out – and so we went into our interview with the mastermind of the timeline himself today.

Screen Rant spoke to Kevin Feige as part of Thor: Ragnarok‘s media junket today and asked what the deal is with the timeline and how Spider-Man’s time jump makes sense. Feige admits that they were taken aback by the confusion and obsession over the timeline, so much so that they are planning on releasing an official timeline in the near future which will make things clear.

Spider-Man: Homecoming had some ramifications in the MCU continuity in the form of the ‘eight years later’ moment. This has created debate with fans over what the timeline really is. Everything seemed linear previously You had Iron Man 3 in 2013 Captain America: Civil War in 2016. How is this all working out timeline wise?

Kevin Feige: All of that debate has encouraged us. We are going to be publishing an official, and I’m not sure when, or in what format, an official timeline. It’ll probably be apart of ah, I don’t know, apart of an in print that you can fold out and look at. But suffice to say, only in limited cases do we ever actually say what the actual years are because we never want to be tied down to a particular year and I think people assume that whenever the movie is released is when is when the movie is taking place, and that is not the case.

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Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts previously made it known that somewhere in the halls of the Marvel offices an official MCU scroll exists that plots out ever incident to occur in this universe, just so they don’t make any mistakes. If Marvel were to release a version of this that covers all of the released films and Marvel One-Shots it would certainly help ease the minds of those worried that continuity is somehow broken.

With Marvel Studios currently producing three feature films a year beginning here in 2017, making it clear when each takes place is not just beneficial, but necessary to allow the stories to interconnect. Earlier this year for instance, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 took place back in 2014, Homecoming at some point in the future presumably, and Ragnarok‘s placement is unclear too outside if us knowing it’s “a couple of years” after Avengers: Age of Ultron.

That said, Marvel’s need to address this issue at all comes from the grand plan, the interconnected universe used to tell this long-form story that culminates with Avengers 4 in 2019. As great as the shared universe is, situations like these continue to bring up debates over just how connected these movies should be (not to mention the Marvel TV programming which is ignore by the film side). The less connected they are to each other, the more wiggle room the movies have for creative freedom and to stand alone however, but since the MCU has thrived (in part) due to that continuity, it can’t go back on it now.

Williams criticised the singer on her show on Tuesday, where she said, “There are only a few people who can sing raw dog and Fergie is not one, she needs autotune. Jennifer Lopez needs autotune. Janet Jackson needs autotune. Beyonce needs auto-tune.”

Her remarks sparked rage on social media. While one user tweeted, “Wendy Williams, Beyonce has autotune where?”; another posted along with a clip of Beyonce flawlessly hitting high notes during a live performance.

Another shared a clip of the singer at a cappella performance of ‘Halo‘ and wrote, “Wendy Williams: ‘Beyonce needs auto-tune to sing.”

Beyoncé the ONLY!! And I repeat ONLY bitch we got that sounds better than her studio recordings live. And NO I DONT want to hear about your out of breath ass, throat surgery needing, can’t hold a note for dear life faves!!!! I SAID WHAT I FUCKING SAID!!!! pic.twitter.com/Dlw9VlKfRm

India’s leading comedy group, All India Bakchod (AIB), was recently called out online for the sexism in their videos which is often overlooked, by two video producers. Sumedh Natu and Aayushi Jagad broke down some sexist patterns in AIB’s content which might not strike you as overtly sexist but deserve to be brought to people’s notice nonetheless.

A still from an AIB video. Image from Instagram/@AllIndiaBakchod

Some fantastic points in this video, and a privilege check if ever there was one. Thank you Aayushi and Sumedh for calling this out. All of us at AIB hear you, and we’ll be better and work harder to create things that are more inclusive. https://t.co/nikELqzPYH

Natu and Jagad brought up how women in AIB videos are often used only as plot devices and do not have well fleshed out characters unless the video is essentially about feminism. Women are seen in AIB videos but are mostly outnumbered by the men. While men go on to play absolutely ordinary characters, women characters often have little to no dialogue in some of the group’s regular sketches.

They also pointed out how the group has created some of the finest sketches and religiously produces content which calls out sexism in different spheres. They have collaborated with stars like Kangana Ranaut and Kalki Koechlin. However, when it comes to interviewing celebrities, they have so far stuck to male stars.

AIB responded to the video immediately and addressed the concerns of the people who had agreed with the points raised in the calling out video. The group, known for its polemic, realistic and progressive work, promised to create content that is more inclusive. AIB’s graceful response is also a reminder of how every disagreement on the internet might not be a ‘row’.

Varun Dhawan on director Shoojit Sircar: ‘Even after doing October, he is still on my wish-list’

His filmography consists of both commercial pot-boilers and content-driven films and Varun Dhawan says he has always tried to strike a balance between the two spaces as he does not believe in limiting himself as an actor.

Varun Dhawan in October. Image from Twitter/@filmfare

Varun, who will next be seen in Shoojit Sircar’s romantic drama October, says he does not follow any rule book for success and his aim is to stay as diverse as possible in his choice of roles.

“There is no rule. You should not limit yourself as an actor. I sometimes feel like doing this or that or sometimes nothing. We have moods, feelings and I am trying to live life. I am a cinema lover, I love watching different kinds of films. It is not a conscious decision, I have been like this forever. There is no growth, if you do not try out different things. You will not evolve,” Dhawan told PTI.

The first teaser of the film was released recently and the 30-year-old actor says the fact that the film is not a “cliched love story” excited him about the offer.

“We are not trying to break any stereotypes (of romantic Hindi films). Our film is not a cliched love story, it is done to an extent. Now we are trying to show something new. I know the story is close to his (Shoojit) heart. The writing is so beautiful that I jumped in,” he says.

The actor says the experience of working on the project was so enriching for him that he wishes to reunite with Sircar soon.

“The beautiful thing even after doing this film (October) is that he is still on my wish-list. I want to work with him again and again. There is always a message in his films. And this film too had one, which I never knew how to tell people. Subconsciously I wanted to say this to the people. We want to say something that is right in front of you in life and we never learn from it,” said Dhawan.